Well-known reporter: The league has high expectations for the Rockets, but the Rockets have no longer reached the level of championship competition.

According to previous news, Houston Rockets' starting backcourt star Fred VanVleet suffered a torn and severe injury to the ACL. He will undergo surgery to repair his knee. If nothing unexpected happens, he will face a season reimbursement in the new season. Keith Smith, founder of American media Spotrac, recently visited the podcast program "NBA Front Office", during which he also talked about the situation the Rockets may face after VanVleet was injured.

Smith said: The Rockets' series of tossing and struggling in this offseason are aiming to win the championship. However, the problem is that in today's highly competitive Western Conference, it is far from enough to become an excellent team. You must be a top two or three teams to have hope of winning the championship. At present, after VanVleet's injury was reimbursed for the season, the Rockets should not be able to reach this level. The NBA chose to let the Rockets play against the Oklahoma City Thunder in the season opener and against the Golden State Warriors on Christmas. These arrangements show that the league has high expectations for the Rockets' performance in the new season. However, now they will face a huge challenge. Of course, they are still an excellent team now, with many outstanding star players, but they are definitely not as good as the championship team that everyone expected.

In the NBA regular season last season, Van Vleet played 60 games in 82 games, averaging 35.2 minutes per game, averaging 14.1 points, 3.7 rebounds, 5.6 assists, 1.6 steals and 0.4 blocks, and 1.5 turnovers and 2.3 fouls, shooting percentage of 37.8%, three-point shooting percentage of 34.5%, and free throw shooting percentage of 81%. In the playoffs, VanVleet played 7 games in total, with averaging 40 minutes per game, with averaging 18.7 points, 4.1 rebounds, 4.4 assists, 0.3 blocks, and 1.9 turnovers and 2.3 fouls. He shot 43%, three-point shooting percentage 43.5%, and free throw shooting percentage 100%. The biggest problem with the Rockets now is that they can't find a replacement for VanVleet in position one. Amen Thompson has been proven to be more suitable for being in the front line than in the No. 1 position; Reed Sheppard's performance last season was extremely disappointing and seemed far from being fully prepared; and Aaron Holiday, whose abilities are limited, and it sounds like an unrealistic thing to count on him to take on greater responsibilities. It doesn't matter how VanVleet's ability is. He is a player who earns a salary of 20 million yuan in any case. If the Rockets cannot solve this problem, they will encounter a huge crisis in the new season, or even fail.